The Tennessee Department of Education today released the 2010 data on Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and the State Report Card results on pre-K-12 education.

AYP measures how well school districts performed in meeting academic benchmarks under the federal “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) law, while the State Report Card includes state, district, and school-level information on achievement, demographics, and discipline.

The Knox County Schools (KCS) garnered “B” grades in achievement for Reading, Math, Science, and Social Studies.The State of Tennessee posted C, C, C, and B, respectively.Additional highlights of the data show:

·A 5.2 percent increase in the district’s four year high school graduation rate to 86.6 percent (2009 graduation rate was 81.4 percent). A small part of this increase is due to a one-time methodological change, but the district’s graduation rate would still have seen a 3.4% increase without the adjustment. .

·Several Knox County schools have moved to “good standing” under Tennessee’s accountability criteria. These schools include East Knox County, Mooreland Heights, South Knoxville, and Spring Hill Elementary Schools, as well as Bearden, Karns and Powell Middle Schools, and Karns and West High Schools.Overall, the Knox County Schools has six more schools in good standing in 2009-10 than in the previous year.

·A number of schools have demonstrated significant improvement under Tennessee’s accountability criteria, including Austin-East Magnet High School, Beaumont, Belle Morris and Christenberry Elementary Schools, and Halls High School.

The KCS received “Cs” in value-added for reading, math, and science.The district posted a “B” in social studies.The State of Tennessee posted D, D, D, and C, respectively.Value-added data measures student growth within a grade and subject, which demonstrates the influence the school has on the students’ performance.

The data also point to some areas for improvement.Middle school mathematics, and district-wide academic performance in certain NCLB “sub-groups” such as students with disabilities and limited English proficient students are areas that will require additional focus.

“We are pleased to have this information publicly available so that our parents, teachers and community can see how we are measuring up to the new rigorous academic standards that Tennessee has courageously adopted,” said Dr. Jim McIntyre, Superintendent of the Knox County Schools.“The data show some real strengths, and some definite areas for improvement. While we have made reasonable academic progress thus far given the new, higher standards, we fully understand there is still much work to be done to ensure that every child is learning at a high level.This data will serve as an important diagnostic tool as we continue to focus on achieving our ambitious goal of Excellence for All Children.”